2-701-805 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

First manned ascent of a hydrogen balloon, Paris, France, 1 December 1783, (1932). Designed by Jacques Charles, a French professor of physics, and constructed by the brothers Jean and Noel Robert, the balloon carried Charles and Noel Robert aloft as it ascended from the Tuileries Gardens in Paris. It took off in front of a crowd of 400,000, landing two hours later at Nesle-la-Vallee, over 27 miles away. Robert alighted there but Charles re-ascended in the balloon, as seen here, reaching an altitude of over 9000 feet. It was the first manned (free flight) ascent of a hydrogen balloon. From "Die Eroberung Der Luft", (The Conquest of the Air), cigarette card album produced by the Garbáty cigarette factory, 1932. Eugene and Moritz Garbáty, who were Jewish, were driven out of business by the Nazis in the late 1930s, and forced to sell their factory which lay empty for over 70 years. [Garbaty Cigarettenfabrik, Berlin-Pankow, 1932]